Practical 3D Printing: Resin Materials

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Resin Materials

07.54

00:00	If you're just getting started with resin 3D printing, at first glance the options for different materials will seem extremely limited compared to the never -ending list of filaments for FDM.
00:10	But past the basic and generic offerings, there's a relatively wide range of resins available for all different applications.
00:19	Epoxies, acrylics, polyurethanes, silicons and ceramics are all common options for the base components of the resins.
00:27	While each of these provide different properties, this isn't usually the most effective means of understanding what type of resin is suitable for each application.
00:37	Thankfully, the properties of each resin are much easier to understand simply by their names, especially compared to the confusing three-letter abbreviations for the chemical compounds of filaments for FDM.
00:50	For example, most suppliers will market their resins under the names like Standard Resin, Rapid or High Speed Resin, Water Washable Resin, Tough Resin, Translucent Resin, or Transparent Resin to name a few.
01:03	All the options can be divided into a few categories, being General Purpose, Engineering, Dental or Medical, and Jewelry.
01:12	While resin 3D prints are becoming a big player in dentistry, this isn't of interest to us, or more accurately, it's not the focus of this course.
01:21	We're primarily interested in the General Purpose and Engineering categories.
01:26	The names of the resins are fairly self -explanatory, and the properties of the cured parts are very clear.
01:31	But let's dive into a few and discuss some potential automotive uses.
01:36	Standard Resin, as you'd expect, is the most commonly used resin that we almost always start our SLA 3D printing journey with.
01:43	It's a simple and relatively cheap option with no real standout properties, but it's well-rounded and makes use of all the typical benefits of resin printing, offering a good surface finish and level of detail.
01:56	The strength, stiffness and temperature are all fairly good, but again, not particularly special in any way when compared to the other options.
02:06	Standard Resin is the go-to for most low -demand parts and prototypes.
02:11	As a side note here, the HDT, or heat deflection temperature, is a measure of a polymer's resistance to deflection under a specific load at an elevated temperature.
02:21	For example, the HDT of a standard resin at a load of 0.45 megapascals, which is about 48 to 70 degrees Celsius.
02:32	Although a certain part might not always be subject to load, so it could probably handle much higher temperature than this in that case, the HDT will usually be the specific value from the material supplier, and it's fair to say that a higher HDT generally means higher heat resistance.
02:49	Back on track, water washable resins are very much the same as standard resins, but can be cleaned only with water after printing, rather than the same type of resins, which typically require isopropyl alcohols to dissolve and remove excess uncured resin.
03:04	These are a recent innovation, and the only real downside is the higher price point, which is partially justified by reduced isopropyl alcohol usage.
03:14	Either standard or water washable resins are available in a range of different surface finishes, like gloss or matte, as well as colours and transparent or translucent options for aesthetic or optical purposes.
03:26	For the most part, these colour and transparency options have no real impact on any mechanical properties.
03:33	An example of an optical purpose might be the lens for a tail light or interior light, and naturally for aesthetic purposes, we need to take a lot of care in our print settings and the orientation to do the part justice.
03:46	High detail or precision resins also usually result in prints with similar mechanical properties to the standard resins, however, the resins are specifically designed to have low shrinkage during printing.
03:57	This leads to more accurate prints, ideal where geometric accuracy is critical, or in parts with high level of detail.
04:06	As you'd imagine though, this typically comes with a slight increase in the cost.
04:11	Rapid resins on the other hand are suitable when we're prioritising the efficiency and print speed over the quality and surface finish.
04:18	That's not to say the results are bad, maybe just not quite as good as normal.
04:23	With that said, if we're using these resins, quality probably isn't our priority anyway.
04:28	What we've covered up to this point have been in the general purpose category, but for automotive and motorsport projects, we'll often be interested in engineering resins, which tend to offer some significant advantages in specific categories.
04:41	An example of this would be flexible resins, which replicate the flexibility of rubber or TPU, like we discussed with our FDM filaments.
04:50	These are still relatively strong, but not stiff, and allow for a good amount of deflection while returning to their original form.
04:57	Although that happens relatively slowly.
05:00	This makes them ideal for shock absorption parts, or things like handle grips where we want a softer touch surface that's still firm enough for good control.
05:10	Elastic resins are similar but much softer and faster to spring back to their original shape, although they don't have the same strength.
05:18	Silicon resins are much the same as flexible and elastic resins, being relatively soft and pliable, but also quite durable with good heat resistance.
05:27	These can be used to recreate parts like the steering rack or CV boots, or even gaskets, o-rings and seals.
05:35	At the other end of the spectrum are rigid resins, which are usually glass filled or reinforced with glass fibres.
05:41	This makes them extremely stiff, which is great for equipment that we don't want flexing, like aero parts for example.
05:48	Rigid resins also offer high HDT values along with the stiffness, so they can handle hotter applications as well.
05:56	Tough resins and polyurethanes to split the difference.
06:00	These are still strong and stiff like standard resins, but also allow for much more elongation, meaning they can stretch and bend much more without failing, making them great for rugged parts that can be subject to impact.
06:13	These resins are often marketed as ABS like or nylon like resins due to their increased impact resistance.
06:19	If we're making any kind of tooling to produce other parts like jigs and fixtures, then these are often the go to for long lasting parts.
06:28	Durable resins are similar but usually a lot less stiff and considerably more ductile allowing for even more elongation.
06:36	Past this there are other specialty high temperature and ceramic resins with properties like flame retardancy, conductivity and exceptional heat resistance and are suitable for specific applications.
06:48	High temperature resins are typically the go to for parts in the engine bay and can be capable of handling temperatures over 200°C which is about 400°F.
06:59	In this module we've made generalizations about the properties of various resins, but formulations can vary between different manufacturers and result in significant differences in properties even with the same type of resin.
07:13	With this in mind it's worth discussing your specific requirements with the manufacturer if you have any doubt.
07:19	The key things to remember here are that there are a lot of options with significantly different properties to suit different applications.
07:27	So, don't limit yourself to the standard resins.
07:29	Even in the general purpose category we can get quite different results and aesthetics from standard or precision resins or even increase the process efficiency with options like rapid or water washable resins.
07:41	Past this engineering resins allow for more versatility and to achieve the specific demands of motorsport parts.